04-24-2007, 03:19 PM
[center][cool][font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]Thought that this article in my local paper this morning would touch every fisher person. [/size][/green][/font][/center] [center][#0000bf][size 4]The fishermen of Manzanar[/size][/#0000bf][/center] [#0000bf][size 4]Japanese-Americans used to sneak out of the internment camp at night to go fishing. An upcoming program details the fishing.[/size][/#0000bf] [#0000bf]By DAVE STREGE[/#0000bf] [#0000bf]THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]The prisoner was attempting to escape. As the man crawled under the barbed-wire fence, a shot echoed in the night sky and a patch of sand exploded in front of him. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Caught, he crawled back into camp. He did not go fishing for trout that night.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Near as historian Cory Shiozaki could tell, the shooting was an isolated incident. Most of the time, the prisoners sneaked out of camp to fish at night without incident.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]For many of these daring anglers, the nighttime escapes meant more than simply catching trout. They signified being free. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]The anglers were among the 10,000 Japanese-Americans who were interned during World War II at the Manzanar Relocation Camp between Lone Pine and Independence off Highway 395.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]That piece of dark American history is kept alive at the Manzanar National Historic Site and Interpretive Center. There, Shiozaki has added a recreational hook to the story, one he calls "From Barbed Wire to Barbed Hooks: Fishing Stories from Manzanar."[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Since 2004, the Gardena resident has been interviewing former internees and collecting fishing artifacts for a display at the site. He also gives talks and walking tours of the nearby creeks where the internees used to fish. His next programs are Sunday and Monday.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Shiozaki, a filmmaker by trade, has videotaped several of the interviews for a documentary he hopes one day will appear on the History Channel. He is currently seeking financial grants.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]"Fishing is a little known aspect of Manzanar; people aren't aware of it," said Shiozaki, an avid angler whose parents were interned at different camps. "What I found from Archie, it was the spirit of freedom that drove them to do this."[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Archie Miyatake, 82, of Montebello was a teen when he was at Manzanar, where he became a fisherman. He has often said "the air just tasted better" on the outside. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Miyatake would fish twice a month. Last week in a phone interview, he emphasized that leaving camp and fishing without getting caught was "quite a satisfaction." [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]It was also quite successful. There was no shortage of trout for dinner. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]"There were times when we caught so much you put them in your pockets because there were no other places to keep them," Miyatake said.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]The internees dug up worms for bait and fished Independence, Symmes, Shepherd, Bairs, George and Hogback creeks. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]"All these streams and creeks were just loaded with trout," Shiozaki said, adding that they were stocked by the Department of Fish and Game from nearby Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Initially, they used primitive fishing gear. Willow trees and split-bamboo swords were fashioned into rods. Spent bullet casings were made into ferrels to join rod pieces together. Paper clips were bent into line guides. Safety pins were bent into hooks.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]"People got very creative," Shiozaki said. "Later on, people were able to buy tackle through mail-order catalogs."[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Armed with fishing tackle, anglers waited for the sun to go down and then helped each other through the barbed-wire fence when the guards in the watch towers weren't looking. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]"We kind of looked around all the time to make sure nobody was following us or looking at us," Miyatake said. "We didn't worry too much about that."[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]After one and half years, camp security became more lax and made fishing trips easier. Some anglers went every night. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Most of the fishing was done on nearby creeks where they caught rainbow, brown and brook trout, but Heihachi Ishikawa ventured to high-elevation lakes and caught golden trout. It was said he'd be gone up to two weeks at a time.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Miyatake's father, a professional photographer, took a photo of Ishikawa in camp holding an impressive stringer of golden trout up to 15 inches. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]The black-and-white image is historically significant. For it is the only known photograph of a fisherman at Manzanar.[/#0000bf]
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[#0000bf]The prisoner was attempting to escape. As the man crawled under the barbed-wire fence, a shot echoed in the night sky and a patch of sand exploded in front of him. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Caught, he crawled back into camp. He did not go fishing for trout that night.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Near as historian Cory Shiozaki could tell, the shooting was an isolated incident. Most of the time, the prisoners sneaked out of camp to fish at night without incident.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]For many of these daring anglers, the nighttime escapes meant more than simply catching trout. They signified being free. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]The anglers were among the 10,000 Japanese-Americans who were interned during World War II at the Manzanar Relocation Camp between Lone Pine and Independence off Highway 395.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]That piece of dark American history is kept alive at the Manzanar National Historic Site and Interpretive Center. There, Shiozaki has added a recreational hook to the story, one he calls "From Barbed Wire to Barbed Hooks: Fishing Stories from Manzanar."[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Since 2004, the Gardena resident has been interviewing former internees and collecting fishing artifacts for a display at the site. He also gives talks and walking tours of the nearby creeks where the internees used to fish. His next programs are Sunday and Monday.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Shiozaki, a filmmaker by trade, has videotaped several of the interviews for a documentary he hopes one day will appear on the History Channel. He is currently seeking financial grants.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]"Fishing is a little known aspect of Manzanar; people aren't aware of it," said Shiozaki, an avid angler whose parents were interned at different camps. "What I found from Archie, it was the spirit of freedom that drove them to do this."[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Archie Miyatake, 82, of Montebello was a teen when he was at Manzanar, where he became a fisherman. He has often said "the air just tasted better" on the outside. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Miyatake would fish twice a month. Last week in a phone interview, he emphasized that leaving camp and fishing without getting caught was "quite a satisfaction." [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]It was also quite successful. There was no shortage of trout for dinner. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]"There were times when we caught so much you put them in your pockets because there were no other places to keep them," Miyatake said.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]The internees dug up worms for bait and fished Independence, Symmes, Shepherd, Bairs, George and Hogback creeks. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]"All these streams and creeks were just loaded with trout," Shiozaki said, adding that they were stocked by the Department of Fish and Game from nearby Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Initially, they used primitive fishing gear. Willow trees and split-bamboo swords were fashioned into rods. Spent bullet casings were made into ferrels to join rod pieces together. Paper clips were bent into line guides. Safety pins were bent into hooks.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]"People got very creative," Shiozaki said. "Later on, people were able to buy tackle through mail-order catalogs."[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Armed with fishing tackle, anglers waited for the sun to go down and then helped each other through the barbed-wire fence when the guards in the watch towers weren't looking. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]"We kind of looked around all the time to make sure nobody was following us or looking at us," Miyatake said. "We didn't worry too much about that."[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]After one and half years, camp security became more lax and made fishing trips easier. Some anglers went every night. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Most of the fishing was done on nearby creeks where they caught rainbow, brown and brook trout, but Heihachi Ishikawa ventured to high-elevation lakes and caught golden trout. It was said he'd be gone up to two weeks at a time.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Miyatake's father, a professional photographer, took a photo of Ishikawa in camp holding an impressive stringer of golden trout up to 15 inches. [/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]The black-and-white image is historically significant. For it is the only known photograph of a fisherman at Manzanar.[/#0000bf]
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